The is the first of a series of novels set at New Moon Farm, a family-owned place that started out as a small breeding operation, but grew into an arena in which rescue horses and at-risk kids are paired up for their mutual good. The protagonist is a cocky high school senior, Xan. She’s opinionated, quick to judge, but good with horses and little kids. But one day, her mother drops a class on her – a class of kids her own age—a whole new ballgame.

Xan is pushed past her comfortable ideas into a world of people who you can’t train the way you do horses. Then comes an additional challenge: one of Xan’s least favorite people in the world ends up having to work for the farm. He’s “Arrogant, stubborn, mouthy,” as she puts it, which makes him just a mirror image of Xan.

This book tells the story of so many “normal” people who are, of course, no more normal than anybody else in this world. It’s a coming-of-age novel in the real sense: a child who suddenly finds herself growing into a woman.

Please feel free to go to the Books By Chapter menu and read the first several chapters right here.